2 Bad Mice

2 Bad Mice

2 Bad Mice are a London group formed in 1991 and active from that point to the present. They are associated with breakbeat hardcore, drum and bass and rave, and are widely credited as one of the early UK hardcore acts to make heavy use of breakbeats in the style.

Style and influence

The group is known for its cut-up approach to sampled drums, breaking beats into smaller fragments and recombining them in new patterns. This method is especially associated with the 1992 track “Bombscare”, which is often treated as a key example of the approach and a blueprint for later jungle break manipulation. 2 Bad Mice are also described as having helped drive hardcore’s transition into jungle and drum and bass.

Members and related work

The group’s members are Simon Colebrooke, Deep Blue and Rob Playford. Earlier information also links the act with Sean O'Keefe. Rob Playford is also connected with Moving Shadow records and is identified as a producer. He later records with Metalheadz alongside Goldie, while O'Keefe and Colebrooke record intermittently under other names.

Recordings and labels

2 Bad Mice’s work is gathered on a best-of compilation that appears on Sm:)e Communications in 1995. Rob Playford’s Moving Shadow label is an important part of the group’s wider context, and the act is also associated with Over/Shadow.